It’s taken about 18 years, but there is finally a feline counterpart to Best in Show, a hysterical mockumentary nonpareil about the world of competitive dog shows where the owners are even more high-strung than their pooches.

Okay, so Catwalk: Tales From the Cat Show Circuit — marking its world broadcast première April 1 on CBC Docs POV — is a documentary, and veteran directors Michael McNamara and Aaron Hancox don’t really mock the owners or their pets here. But what they do is provide more insight about cat shows than anyone would have thought possible, and they have emerged with an absolutely engrossing peek into one of the planet’s lesser-known subcultures. The doc is pretty darned funny to boot.

“People understand what a dog show is. People can’t wrap their heads around what a cat show is,” Kim Langille says at the beginning of this documentary.

Langille knows of what she speaks. She is a competitive cat exhibitor and one of the main focuses of this offering. That is, Langille and her white Turkish Angora named Bobby.

When shooting begins on the Canadian feline-show circuit, Bobby is the king of the cats, having cleaned up in competitions over the last few years.

Catwalk: Tales From the Cat Show Circuit is a documentary premiÃ¨ring April 1 on CBC Docs POV. Kim Langille and Bobby (left) and Shirley McCollow with Oh La La are going whisker-to-whisker to become the top cat.Meron Gaudet /
Markham Street Films

But wait — there’s another puss on the circuit who wishes to unseat Bobby from his throne. Say hey to Oh La La, a fetching Red Persian who has come out of retirement for one last scratch at glory. Her handler, Shirley McCollow, is hell-bent on Oh La La going out a champ.

Langille soon realizes her Bobby has never faced an opponent as formidable as Oh La La, especially when at one show a seasoned American guest judge concedes that the latter cat has given him “more goosebumps” than any feline he has ever felt.

No matter that Langille has cats who can catch their own dinner, particularly when wayward birds land on her patio — she fully understands the nature of these contests: “If you’re not No. 1, you’re the first loser.”

And so the scene is set for the ultimate showdown in Whitby, Ont., at the Canadian cat-circuit equivalent of New York City’s prestigious Westminster dog show.

As a cat owner who risks severe mauling if I even dare to try to pick mine up, I’m in awe of these handlers, who can actually bathe and brush their pets, let alone parade them around others without triggering full-on feline fights. The handlers come closer to exchanging blows — although they don’t here.

McNamara and Hancox were in the dark about competitive cat shows until the latter stumbled upon one two years ago.

Catwalk: Tales From the Cat Show Circuit is a documentary premiÃ¨ring April 1 on CBC Docs POV.Meron Gaudet /
Markham Street Films

“As a proud Montrealer, I had always avoided going to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, because I’m not an amusement-ride person. But despite my protests, my girlfriend persuaded me to go and after one ride, which left me nauseous, I happened to see a sign that read: ‘Cat show this way.’ I was so excited, because I had grown to love cats,” Hancox explains in a phone interview.

“And lo and behold, I felt like I had found the equivalent of Best in Show, but for cats. Yet this one was for real.”

So Hancox raced back to the office to tell McNamara about what he had uncovered.

“I couldn’t stop talking about it, and (McNamara) gave in,” Hancox says. “These cat people were then really willing to share their world with us.”

Upon further investigation with the Canadian Cat Association, they learned that a hot story was brewing between Langille’s Bobby and McCollow’s Oh La La.

“We hit the ground running,” says McNamara, a Torontonian. “Before we even finished a sentence in approaching (Langille), she said she was in.

“In our documentary experience, we’re used to our subjects drawing their wagons in a circle. But nothing could have been further from the case when we got together with these people. They were so open and so excited to see us.”

Same with the cats.

“These cats are not your regular (distant) cats,” Hancox says. “They’re fancy cats, who are bred to be show cats and are bred to be fondled and handled. They are also socialized at an early age. But you can’t teach an old cat new tricks.”

“What makes these cats so special is their amenability to be in show,” McNamara says. “Oh La La, in particular, is a real ham. She really loves to be looked at. People’s mouths drop when Oh La La, this huge bouffant of a cat, is paraded around by (McCollow). She even has her own groupies.

“It’s fascinating to see how the judges handle them, too. They stretch them out to see what their musculature is like.”

“Although it is a bit of a trial run when this is done to the cats for the first time,” Hancox notes. “Some cats can freak out. They can get skittish and run, and even maul a judge. But for the most part, the cats are pros.”

There is also a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to biting and/or clawing a judge. One strike — or bite or claw — and the cat is out.

On the other hand, to the victors go the spoils and the glory. That showboat Oh La La has gone on to do Whiskas commercials and won’t ever have to worry about an empty food bowl. Much less ever having to hunt for and snag a bird for dinner.

“In a film like this, it would be way too easy to make fun of everybody, but, as is the case with all our films, we make sure everyone is treated with respect,” McNamara says. “But these cat people have a real sense of humour. They come from all walks, but they’re just crazy about cats. And we’re just kicking ourselves for not doing this 20 years ago.”

AT A GLANCE

Catwalk: Tales From the Cat Show Circuit has its world broadcast première Sunday, April 1 at 9 p.m. on CBC Docs POV. The documentary will also be available to watch online at cbc.ca/CBCDocsPOV Friday, March 30 from 5 p.m.

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